THE KINGSTON CURRICULUM

At Kingston Primary School we are committed to providing our pupils with a vibrant, engaging and creative curriculum which incorporates all of the essential skills to ensure success in every aspect of education and life. We use exciting and current themes as the vehicle to deliver the 2014 New Curriculum. Teachers carefully choose themes they know will capture their pupils’ attention and engage them in learning. Our curriculum is therefore very much alive and continually changing depending on the interests of the children in our classes. Each theme always incorporates a memorable event in the form of a class trip, visits from people with experience of our theme or travelling theatre groups. Examples of current and previous themes we have covered in our curriculum are:

The Titanic

Chocolate

CSI crime investigation

Come dine with us

The film industry

Zoos

Throughout our curriculum we have an eye on an end result: skilled, articulate, strong and well mannered young people who are able to lead happy, successful lives and can influence others to do the same. We teach our pupils to have a ‘growth mindset’ which means that they take on challenges, aim high and aren’t afraid to make mistakes as they know this is how they learn.

The New Curriculum at Kingston Primary School

The National Curriculum 2014 has been introduced in England. The new curriculum will now be taught to all children in Y1,Y3,Y4 and Y5. All chilldren in England, currently in Y2 and Y6, will still be taught the old curriculum in English, Maths and Science for this academic year and will be tested on their knowledge from this curriculum. From September 2015 all children will be taught all subjects from the new currlculum.

Why the big curriculum change?

The main aim is to raise standards. Although the new curriculum is intended to be more challenging, the content is actually slimmer than the current curriculum, focusing on essential core subject knowledge and skills such as essay writing and computer programming.

The information below summarises the main changes in the core subjects.

Subject

What’s new?

English

Stronger emphasis on vocabulary development, grammar, punctuation and spelling (for example, the use of commas and apostrophes will be taught in KS1)

Handwriting( not currently assessed under the national curriculum) is expected to be fluent, legible and speedy

Spoken English has a greater emphasis, with children to be taught debating and presenting skills.

Maths

Five-year-olds will be expected to learn to count up to 100 (compared to 20 under the current curriculum) and learn number bonds to 20 (currently up to 10)

Simple fractions (1/4 and 1/2) will be taught from KS1, and by the end of primary school, children should be able to convert decimal fractions to simple fractions (e.g. 0.375 = 3/8)

By the age of nine, children will be expected to know times tables up to 12×12 (currently 10×10 by the end of primary school)

Calculators will not be introduced until near the end of KS2, to encourage mental arithmetic.

Science

Strong focus on scientific knowledge and language, rather than understanding the nature and methods of science in abstract terms

Evolution will be taught in primary schools for the first time

Non-core subjects like caring for animals will be replaced by topics like the human circulatory system

Design & technology

Design and Technology has become more important in the new curriculum, setting children on the path to becoming the designers and engineers of the future

More sophisticated use of design equipment such as electronics and robotics

In KS2, children will learn about how key events and individuals in design and technology have shaped the world.

ICT

Computing replaces Information and Communication Technology (ICT), with a greater focus on programming rather than on operating programs

From age five, children will learn to write and test simple programs, and to organise, store and retrieve data

From seven, they will be taught to understand computer networks, including the internet

Internet safety – currently only taught from 11-16 – will be taught in primary schools

Languages

Currently not statutory, a modern foreign language or ancient language (Latin or Greek) will be mandatory in KS2. Children will be expected to master basic grammar and accurate pronunciation and to converse, present, read and write in the language